Monday, April 26, 2010

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard

First off, thanks to The Warstore for fulfilling all of my purchasing needs.  You guys rock.

Second, it's been many a moon since I've posted and I'm back!  Thank all of you for your comments and I will be responding more as your comments pop up.  The truth is so much easier to handle!  I'd rather be known for telling it like it is than one who can't face the facts!  So on we go.

I've been a rabid Blood Angel player since I played Space Marine Epic with the black armored Salamanders on the cover way back in 1991.  I've always like the color red, the glorious Red Wings and I think part of the draw of choosing the Blood Angels for Epic was they were always pictured in White Dwarf magazine.  So I got my copy of the Blood Angel Codex last week. Thanks Warstore!!!!!!

I'm very pleased with the Codex.  There are a few things I'm still digesting and figuring out, more on that later. 

But today is a discussion on Sanguinary Guard. These are some great models with some solid rules. I haven't used them yet in a game but overall I think they are a pretty good choice.   A player may take 5 models at the cost of 200 points.  It's pretty expensive, but I think there are a few good bits in there.  Each one has veteran stats and thus have 2 attacks. Artificier armor gives them a 2+ save and they are fearless. With Descent of Angels, they can drop in nearly anywhere they want.  The Glaive Encarmine is a two-handed master crafted power weapon so they can be devastating when they engage in combat and Death Masks can be taken that force opponents to make a leadership check and if they should fail, they will be at Weapon Skill 1 for the duration of the assault phase.  I would bet that during playtesting they tried the Glaives at Str. 6 and found it to be too much with the Artificier armor and Fearless rules and thus reduced it to merely a master crafted power weapon.  I think that losing the attack of the additional hand weapon to be rather silly for Blood Angels. Why shouldn't the Sanguinary Guard have 4 attacks each when they charge?  They are the Elite of the Elite!  I'd like to take units of 10 models, but alas, I can only take units of 5. Guess someone figured out just how good they were.

Add in a Sanguinary Priest to give Furious Charge and Feel No Pain, and a player has one fantastic and dangerous unit of 5 models, and sadly not 10.   Taking Dante as an HQ choice allows a player to take Sanguinary Guard as Troops choices.  That's awesome and allows for GW to really sell lots of these models which is what they want to do anyway, so why not give players that opportunity!  Good job, GW.

The models are fantastic too.  My only real complaint is that the sprues come with only one Infernus pistol, one Plasma pistol, and one Power fist.  The options in the book allow me to take as many as each of these as I'd like, but I'm limited by the number of pieces in the box. GW dropped the ball here.   It took me about 15 minutes to figure out how the wings attach to the model and I'll post up how that's done in the next few days as a proper customer service bit!

I like the way the Death Masks and armor look in that Italian Renaissance sculpture style (think Michelangelo's David), but I'm not a fan of the bare heads behind the Death Masks and they have the exact same hairstylist! Upon closer inspection, the un-helmeted heads have the same stylist too!   I like my Marines with close-cropped hair. These hairdoos look like they should belong in the Emperor's Children Fulgrim pretty boy camp. (Note: I like the Emperor's Children and Fulgrim, so this isn't a slam on them, just a statement of truth).  But I do applaud GW on the amount of different bits and shoulder pads on the sprues.

If you plan on taking Blood Angels Honor Guard, I'd recommend using most parts from the Sanguinary Guard models for your models. Just paint them red instead!

10 comments:

AkersMinis said...

Interesting to see your take ,as a die hard blood angles player, on these gorgous models.I think for the price though I would prefer them at 3 attacks base but eh. I personally just picked upa box of death company and am thinking of slowly building an army of them. Namely because they are well just cool looking. What would you think of the sang gaurd included with death company and would you run jump packs so as to have a fully air moble force?
Finally what would you say are the sang gaurds biggest downside?
-alex

Schnitzel said...

sounds like the bare head sprues will go well with a Pre-Heresy Emperor's Children kitbash.
How do you feel about the bat nips though? Granted you only see them on two of the chest bits, a lot of people seem annoyed by them.

Buyaki said...

Yes, I think they really should be 3 attacks each as befitting of their Guardian status. The chapter would induct the best warriors into the Sanguinary Guard.

I think using both SGd and DC would be cool but it would be a very small elite force and outnumbered all the time. Jump packs on DC is quite expensive but Descent of Angels can mitigate some Deep Strike problems. I discovered that rolling for my vehicles first (deep strike and reserves) to see what arrives if at all allows me to make re-rolls for descent of angels to keep them off the table or bring on an overwhelming force.

I used Death Company in a Land Raider against Leafblower. My plan was simple. If I had first turn, they'd start on the board and just push forwards as fast a possible to create a huge threat. If playing second turn, I'd just deep strike them in. I've only played two games with the new Blood Angels so I'm still trying to figure them out.

I think the biggest downside on the SGd is the small unit size. It doesn't take much concentrated fire to put a dent in them severely dampening their threat.

What are bat nips? They don't bother me. Tycho has had them for years and they fit the artisan style background of the Blood Angels.

Will said...

SG are fantastic. Being able to take them as troops with Dante is the only way to justify his points. I have no problem with the 2 attacks. If you want more attacks, take a chapter banner, if you want more take the Sanguinor. That's the reason they are 2 attack, if they were 3 or 4, that would just be stupid with those combos.

I see them as terminators with wings. Throw in a librarian with shield psychic power and they have the exact save as a terminator. Add a priest and you have a hell of a resilient unit. On the note of the priest. I would always take them in an honor guard and not as an elite. The reason being that as an elite, they cost 50 points, plus the price for the jump pack, and they can be picked out in CC. As a member of the honor guard, you get 4 other veterans for a total of 115, plus jump pack, and you add a lot more ablative wounds to boot.

I think I'm talking my self into a new army...

Buyaki said...

Will, finish your Fists or Wolves first! But good angles and ideas that I hadn't considered.

Dante is great. I took him with an assault squad, sanguinary priest and librarian in my game. His tactical genius dead-on deep strike skill (can't remember what its called) is a huge boon for him. I landed in front of a manticore to shoot and remove from the game. Dante missed!

I think players can take elite priests but just need to be careful where he is placed going into combat. Furious charge will clean through most combatants before they get the swing and he's got FNP to give him an extra save.

I'll try to post up the list I took for Ft. Buyaki Friday night gmaing.

Will said...

Not to mention the IG! The only reason for me to run this army is for the SG models. They look fantastic, and I think a different color scheme will be even better.

I was thinking of converting the Sanguior as Dante, and just running an disgustingly elite army.

AkersMinis said...

Will: you post a very dangerous combo idea. I seldom ever think tatical as I usually go for what I love to field and fluff but that sounds sick, and well just fun!!!! I see your point with the attacks but I think they still should be 3 each but that is my personal opinon. The problem is now that you just talked me into another army.. DAMN YOU!!!!

Buyaki said...

Rogue, please refer the correct use of Fluff in one of my earlier postings!

Anonymous said...

Skabrad here...

Yeah mate... as soon as I finish my 80% done "alien"nid army I will be bringing my red boys back out. I think SG are really cool from both a modeling and a gaming perspective. Hoping to get some games in soon. When I do I will let you know how mine fare.

Dude you should be posting piccies of your extremely beautiful BAs...

B

P.S. Just unpacked all my old BA polos the other day.... Need to finish nids.... need to finish nids... will not start my next army til the last is done... *repeats again and again until I believe it*

Warwick Plumbers said...

This was a lovely blogg post